Tutorial: Coco Chanel Inspired Necklace for $1

7 June 20138,737 views5 Comments

by rhonda

This month I have been participating in the Fox In Flats Style Dare. There is a different style dare for every day, and yesterday's was to do something inspired by Coco Chanel. Now, when I think Coco Chanel, I think of lots and lots of strings of pearls. But... I don't own any real pearls, and only a couple of strands of fake ones - not nearly enough to pull off the look. Then I remembered that I had seen strings of white, Mardi-Gras style beads at Dollar Tree recently and I came up with a plan to make my own Coco-inspired necklace!

Project estimate:

Bead necklaces, $1

Hot glue, on hand

Ribbon, on hand or $1

Total: $1 and up

Look for plain white strands of beads. If you can't find white you can always opt to spray paint colored ones, but this is so much easier!

Decide how many strands of beads you want in your necklace; the beads came in a package of eight strands and I decided to use five of them for my necklace.

Set aside one of the necklaces to use as your longest strand. (We will call this Strand A.) The rest will be cut down to varying shorter lengths. When cutting the strands, find the point where the ends of the necklace meet (you will see two beads fused together) and make sure that those two beads are included in the ones you cut off. I cut down four strands, starting by removing three beads from one (Strand B), six beads from the next (Strand C), nine beads from the 3rd necklace (Strand D), and 12 beads from the 4th (Strand E) - taking away three additional beads on each strand. You can do as many or as few strands as you want; just make sure that the shortest strand is still long enough to fit over your head.

On Strand A, find the fused end point on the necklace. Use a small amount of hot glue to attach the ends of Strand B alongside the fused beads on Strand A.

Continue adding beads in this manner, gluing the ends of Strand C next to the ends of Strand B, Strand D to Strand C, and so on until all of your strands have been glued together in order from longest to shortest.

To cover the glued ends, cut a length of white ribbon; wrap it around the area where the bead strands meet and secure with glue.

Your necklace is ready to wear, and it used less than $1 worth of supplies! If only everything this fashionable could be so frugal!

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This is adorable. I love how simple that was to make! It looks so good on you.

# 8 June 2013 at 7:34 am

Cindy H said:

This is a perfect example of something simple, (in multiples) comes off as very elegant!!! Again I love your choice of white mardi gras beads. That wouldn’t occur to me. But makes a powerful statement! This outfit, with the necklace could go anywhere and be appropriate.
Thanks for sharing your genius with us!

[…] Coco Chanel Inspired Necklace for $1 by Heather from Dollar Store Crafts. Heather shows us how to dress like a star with her CoCo Chanel inspired necklace for $1. Yes you heard that right! You can absolutely wear this necklace with anything I tell ya. […]